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Aren't you maybe wasting your own time by sticking with the "old" way of launching apps - scrolling through endless folders of installed apps - rather than the new way (which has been there since Windows Vista): hit the Start button and start typing, hit Enter. There is no need for Win+R and hasn't been since Vista. You can also hit CTRL+SHIFT+Enter instead of just Enter to launch an app as an admin.

And all of that works exactly the same in Windows 8. For users who must "browse" their installed apps, Metro is an admittedly poor choice.

In my experience either the WDTV or Boxee box are going to be your best bang-for-the-buck when it comes to doing both online media (Netflix, Hulu, Spotify) and playing back most types of local media (mp3, mkv, m4v, avi, etc). I've tried both and I think the WDTV is edges out the Boxee Box.

Given a WDTV and an large external harddrive, you can start by using MakeMKV and Handbrake (both free) to rip all your current DVD's and Blu-rays. If you were so inclined, you could probably also borrow and rip friends' collections as well, though this wouldn't be legal.

From there, if you were also so inclined, you could pick up a DVD or Blu-Ray subscription from Netflix to go with the streaming subscription. I've heard the same software works pretty well with their discs too.

That doesn't get into downloading movies from Usenet or torrents, which is also an option.

As others have mentioned, the real "problem" is how this is all presented to you, the user. If you cut the chord, you are now going to be picking and choosing each movie and TV show you watch. It's a choice, rather than having a bunch of stuff thrown at you for you to just leave on. It may seem minor, but in practice it's a noticeable difference in how you consume media.

I gotta say, from my own laptop usage, my wife's, sister's, mother's, and others, I think you are the one whose needs aren't in line with common people.

What applications are you installing you bought on CD? Games these days are being purchased more and more on Steam, Origin, and the likes. Backing up is done more and more to external drives or offsite hosted services.

This is what almost every in-depth article on the situation is finding. Yes there is a "design flaw", but given the overall improvements in the iPhone 4, it is still performing (for most people) better than the 3G or 3GS. Think of it as two steps forward and one step back. To people upgrading from the 3G and 3GS, they still get a great phone with improvements across the board. This only really matters to those who want to demonstrate an issue.

They are different platforms. Windows Phone 7 isn't done...the Kin phones are out. Yes, they plan to align the platforms in the future, and sure they use common components, but they are different platforms now, and the Kin phones are not Windows Phone 7.